Easier Maneuvering When Close To A Spacecraft (or Asteroid)
Posted: 15.03.2010, 04:53
It can be frustrating at times trying to move very close to a spacecraft (or an irregular asteroid) and then trying to maneuver there. Once you get within a certain distance, you can't seem to get any closer, and Right-Dragging with your mouse doesn't change your orientation very fast. Here's a way to make maneuvering around a spacecraft (or asteroid) much easier, and setting it up only takes a minute or two.
What I like to do is define a SECOND SPACECRAFT (or asteroid) with exactly the same ssc orbital and rotational elements, but with a tiny radius. Let's take the ISS as an example.
First, I cut its ssc definition from its ssc file in Celestia's extras-standard folder and paste it into a new file. This helps prevent accidentally changing Celestia's standard installation iss.ssc file. In my new file, I then simply 1) change the satellite name to ISS-ctr, 2) delete the mesh so Celestia doesn't have to try to draw it twice (don't know if this step is necessary), 3) change the radius to 0.0000001, and 4) then save the new file as an ssc file with the new satellite's name ( ISS-ctr.ssc in this example) into Celestia's extras folder.
Remember that you have to restart Celestia for this to take effect. But after that ISS-ctr will be available to help you maneuver as long as you don't remove ISS-ctr.ssc from Celestia's extras folder.
Now, after you "select" and "go to" ISS, immediately "select" and "follow" ISS-ctr. You'll be able to easily move "into" and "around" the ISS with both the keyboard and the mouse.
The code for ISS-ctr.ssc is included below, so you can save it as described. Remember that you need to use a text editor that supports UTF-8. Of course, the ISS-ctr.ssc included below only works with Celestia's standard installation of the ISS. If you updated that—as some persons do to reflect current changes in the ISS's orbit—you'll have use your updated ISS.ssc file to create your own ISS-ctr.ssc file.
You can use the same method with any spacecraft, irregular asteroid etc.
Enjoy,
--VikingTechJPL
What I like to do is define a SECOND SPACECRAFT (or asteroid) with exactly the same ssc orbital and rotational elements, but with a tiny radius. Let's take the ISS as an example.
First, I cut its ssc definition from its ssc file in Celestia's extras-standard folder and paste it into a new file. This helps prevent accidentally changing Celestia's standard installation iss.ssc file. In my new file, I then simply 1) change the satellite name to ISS-ctr, 2) delete the mesh so Celestia doesn't have to try to draw it twice (don't know if this step is necessary), 3) change the radius to 0.0000001, and 4) then save the new file as an ssc file with the new satellite's name ( ISS-ctr.ssc in this example) into Celestia's extras folder.
Remember that you have to restart Celestia for this to take effect. But after that ISS-ctr will be available to help you maneuver as long as you don't remove ISS-ctr.ssc from Celestia's extras folder.
Now, after you "select" and "go to" ISS, immediately "select" and "follow" ISS-ctr. You'll be able to easily move "into" and "around" the ISS with both the keyboard and the mouse.
The code for ISS-ctr.ssc is included below, so you can save it as described. Remember that you need to use a text editor that supports UTF-8. Of course, the ISS-ctr.ssc included below only works with Celestia's standard installation of the ISS. If you updated that—as some persons do to reflect current changes in the ISS's orbit—you'll have use your updated ISS.ssc file to create your own ISS-ctr.ssc file.
You can use the same method with any spacecraft, irregular asteroid etc.
Enjoy,
--VikingTechJPL
Code: Select all
# THIS IS 1.6.0's ISS ssc file modified and saved as a separate ssc file
# to add ISS-ctr to Celestia. This lets you maneuver around the ISS easier.
#
#
# International Space Station
#
# The model is a deconstruction of Andrew Farnaby's complete ISS model located
# on bh's website (http://www.bobhundley.com/celestia/iss.html).
#
# "New ISS" is a modification of the model that can be found here:
# http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/show_addon_details.php?addon_id=1199
# the ISS model of June 2008 (with Kibo) by krisci3 (modified in order to work
# with JPG by Ulrich Dickmann, a.k.a. Adirondack)
# All required textures by Bob Hundley (converted from BMP to JPG by
# Ulrich Dickmann)
# Here we've just made a new ssc named ISS-ctr.ssc as follows:
# 1) Changed the name of the spacecraft to ISS-ctr as you see below
# 2) Deleted its mesh so Celestia doesn't draw it twice
# 3) Set its radius to small: 0.0000001
# Note: I like to save ISS-ctr.ssc in Celestia's extras folder, so it doesn't "contaminate" the standard installation's extras-standard folder.
#
# Now after you "select" and "go to" the ISS, immediately "select" ISS-ctr and "Follow" it. You'll be able to move closer to the Space Station and maneuver around it more easily.
"ISS-ctr" "Sol/Earth"
{
Class "spacecraft"
Radius 0.0000001
Beginning 2451138 # Zarya module launched 20 Nov 1998
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 0.064176392
SemiMajorAxis 6767
Eccentricity 0.0016886
Inclination 51.5684
AscendingNode 343.1518
ArgOfPericenter 346.2476
MeanAnomaly 13.8216
Epoch 2452028.18381755
}
UniformRotation
{
Inclination 51.5684
MeridianAngle -90
AscendingNode 343.1518
}
Orientation [ 90 0 0 1 ]
Albedo 0.10
}
).